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| PC Today | File Sharing Facts

Beyond their ease of use, says Senior Analyst with Real Story Group, Apoorv Durga consumer-oriented file-share are fast and available anytime, anywhere, and on employees' device of choice. Read More.

| EContent | A Guide to Mobile Experience Management: Choosing the Right Tool for Your Needs

With mobile devices outselling traditional computers, mobility has clearly become an enterprise concern. Whether customer-facing or employee-facing, converting key services and information to mobile-friendly experiences is no longer optional.

The marketplace offers a wide variety of tools that can help you go mobile. These range from simpler tools that help you quickly "mobilize" existing sites to more sophisticated tools that allow you to create complex mobile apps, including specialized native apps for specific mobile devices.

| EContent | The State of Web Content Management

With both content and technology always evolving with the fast pace of culture, web content management (WCM) systems must keep up. This is no easy task, and it keeps the industry leaders on their toes. "WCM is about creating and managing content in a central repository with the purpose of delivering it-publishing it-to the web," says Irina Guseva, senior analyst for Real Story Group, "as well as to other channels such as mobile, social, print, and email." And that requires continual adaptation. ... Read More.

| CMS Wire | 2014 Must-Do: Get Back to Basics with Web CMS

It's the New Year. Did you push some of your tasks from last month into January because it seemed like a year away at the time?

Well, it's time to stop procrastinating: 2014 is here.

To help you get going in this infant stage of the new year, we're kicking off a series of "must dos" in areas including web CMS, customer experience and digital marketing.

We start here with a must do for implementing and administering a web CMS. And top of mind is getting back to the basics, according to Irina Guseva, senior analyst at the Real Story Group, which specializes in technology research and strategic advisory services.

"I think orgs need to focus on usability and user friendliness," Guseva told us. "Everyone says they want an 'easy to use' CMS, but then buy or implement monsters." ... Read More.

| KM World | KM past and future: It's about the customer

In January 2013, a Forbes headline announced that mobile devices and customer service would make 2013 the year of the customer. That same week, CMSWire predicted that 2013 would be the year of the customer, with big data being put to work to manage the customer experience. Within another week, Time magazine was asking whether 2013 would (finally) be the year that customer service got better, citing surveys that reported customer rage in response to problems with products or services.

Customer experience management is at the vortex of a set of forces that are driving customer engagement like never before, and KM is there to play its part as organizations strive to incorporate big data, social media, mobile technology and traditional customer relationship management into a smooth-running, customer-centric process. One particular challenge is integrating the plethora of social media sources into traditional strategies and systems. If organizations combine the right strategies with the right technology, the year of the customer may arrive (eventually) after all.

Human-centric processes

"Many organizations forget that customer experience management is not a technology, but a set of strategies and practices," says Irina Guseva, senior analyst for Real Story Group. "While software offers automation, the efficiency really comes when strategy is in place and is working as intended."

 

| InformationWeek | Pay attention to these truths and warnings about the tricky business of buying business software.

Last week, I wrote about how customers have become more savvy about buying enterprise software and more open to experimentation about enterprise architecture and user experience.

Nevertheless, many perennial truths about software selection endure. I listed six software-buying truths last week that enterprises need to heed if they want to find the right fit in the digital world. Here are six more truths -- some of them inconvenient -- that can make you a smarter buyer. At the end of each one, I suggest a short lesson for your team to take away. Read More.

| InformationWeek | pay attention to these truths and warnings about the tricky business of buying business software.

In the 12 years that Real Story Group has been advising enterprise technology selection teams, I've seen customers evolve their approaches to acquiring new software -- mostly for the better.

In general, customers today have become more savvy, as well as more open to experimentation. Greater attention to enterprise architecture (EA) and user experience (UX) tradeoffs in the buying process has also led to better decision-making.

Nevertheless, many perennial truths about software selection endure. At a time when digital capabilities have become an important competitive differentiator, enterprises seeking to up their digital game need to pay close attention to finding the right fit when investigating new software.

Here are six (sometimes inconvenient) truths that can make you a smarter buyer. At the end of each one, I suggest a short lesson for your team to take away. ... Read More.

| Unified Communications Industry News | The top ECM software of 2013

Making your own evaluation What's the best ECM software for your organization? Should you discount a tool that didn't make it to the top of the Quadrant or Leader board? Not necessarily, said Apoorv Durga, a senior analyst at Real Story Group.

'We don't believe that any tool is 'best overall.' What's good for one customer may not be as good for another,' Durga said. 'Evaluate how you would use the tool. A tool that's good in document management may not be as good in record management and vice versa.' Examine your scenarios and compare them with the strengths of the products, Durga said. Once you've done that, compare them based on functionality and technology.

The implementation and user experience needs of every customer are different, and so, even for a specific feature (say, document management), different organizations could find completely different tools as best for their needs,' Durga advised.

| msdynamicsworld.com | The ECM-Compliance Link: Options for Microsoft Dynamics ERP customers

Known for their ability to track and manage documents, enterprise content management (ECM) systems can play a key role in helping organizations keep up with regulations, standards, and even internal policies. And as the world becomes more and more regulated, Apoorv Durga, a senior analyst at Real Story Group, says a higher number of organizations are looking to their ECMs for help in managing and complying with the onslaught.

"Compliance can have multiple meanings. It could refer to adhering to process guidelines, complying with laws and legislations, or conforming to rules and regulations," Durga points out. "In any case, what's clear is that compliance is becoming increasingly important with the world becoming more and more regulated."

| KM World | A guide to selecting enterprise mobile platforms

Enterprise mobile platforms are tools that provide capabilities for mobile application development as well as services required by those mobile applications. They can address business-to-customer (B2C) and/or business-to-employee (B2E) use cases. Real Story Group has recently released a detailed evaluation of 21 such vendors.

Once you've concluded that mobility is a priority, you'll need to decide whether and how much to invest in specialized enterprise mobile platform services. It's not a trivial decision and like other enterprise software decisions, it requires justification and an understanding of trade-offs.

| FierceContent Management | Data conflicts arise over Facebook's marketing effectiveness

"Marketers don't see substantially different results among different channels, which would seem to call for continued experimentation and tweaking across most if not all of them."

That's smart advice in my view. You need to have this presence online. There is no debating that, but Facebook is not the be all and end all of being online. It's part of an overall online marketing plan that should encompass the mainstream social media platforms, as well as content marketing and other creative forms of digital engagement.

It's also important to remember that simply having a presence and counting Likes doesn't necessarily mean engagement and you not only have to experiment across channels as Byrne suggested, you also need to experiment in different ways of engaging within each one. You can't just show up. You need to find creative ways to get your customer's attention across these channels and keep it over time.

| CMS Wire | You Don't Need a Digital Asset Management System If ...
  1. You Can Get By with Functionality Provided by Other Systems
  2. You’re OK with Relying on Your Agency
  3. You Cannot Invest in a Proper DAM Product Selection
  4. You Don't Have Budget for Digital Asset Managers and Metadata Managers
  5. You Operate in the Text-Only World
| CMS Wire | Discussion Point: Encrypted Media Extensions in the HTML Standard

When speaking of HTML 5.1, we should start with the point that this specification is still not stable. What that means in practical terms is that vendors and implementers should really carefully evaluate and implement the spec, given its changing nature. When your vendor says they are “HTML 5-friendly,” you really have to ask them what they mean by that, as the definition and depth of adherence to the standard can vary.

In regards to extensions in general, again a word of caution. As with any standard, proprietary and vendor-specific extensions are discouraged because they defy the whole purpose of the specification, which is interoperability and accessibility.

Speaking specifically of the encrypted media extensions, organizations should realize that this addition is not likely to act as a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system for their assets (note that one of the editors of the latest spec draft is a Netflix employee). Historically, digital asset management tools were rarely able to provide DRM capabilities, and this was often an integration point with specific niche tools that can do digital rights management. But what you get with this spec is a common API that provides the ability to speak to encryption and rights management systems.

It doesn’t though appear that this extension spec will have a large impact on web experiences, as (first and foremost), in my opinion, this spec is designed to protect content distributed by media vendors. Which is nothing but a simple and logical business rationale for organizations that monetize their digital and media assets, as one of major streams of revenue. Realistically, whether customers will appreciate any additions inspired by this spec to their experience or not, is probably not as important. It is not the first time video and audio files are being protected by some sort of a mechanism to prevent unauthorized distribution or replication.

| SearchContentManagement - TechTarget | PaaS offers some relief for HCM software integration woes

"SaaS does not necessarily play well with incumbent systems," said Kashyap Kompella, an analyst with The Real Story Group, an IT advisory firm based in Olney, Md. "And there is not a lot of enthusiasm to undertake" the complex development process of writing the necessary custom interfaces, he said.

| Information Week | Do You Need Mobile Middleware?

Enterprise investments in mobile technology are steadily transitioning from an intense focus on mobile device management (MDM) and mobile asset management (MAM) towards mobile experience management. (No, I'm not going make up a new acronym for that, but the concept is increasingly important nonetheless.)

Whether talking about mobile Web versus native apps, or B2C (business-to-customer) versus B2E (business-to-employee) mobile use cases, savvy enterprises are paying attention to the quality of interaction "on the glass."

| KM World | DAM: Go with the flow

The limitations of workflow in digital asset management (DAM) systems for work in progress are well recognized and have posed ongoing problems for people in the creative industry. DAM systems were initially designed to be repositories for rich media assets, but lacked support for the process of developing those assets.

"Vendors are addressing this issue in one of two ways," says Theresa Regli, analyst for the Real Story Group. "Those that have DAM systems focused on completed, ready-to-deploy assets are acquiring technology to add workflow, while other vendors have developed digital asset management products that focus specifically on work in progress."

| FierceContent Management | Box finally gets workflow tool and metadata's coming

The metadata is a ways off though, according to the blog post announcing the new products, but it is a start. Irina Guseva, a senior analyst with the Real Story Group, says given the company's niche status she's not surprised it's taken a while.

"It is almost forgivable that they only now thought to add metadata management. It is not clear though what the extent of metadata management capabilities is, but it looks very, very light and no mention of popular metadata standards like EXIF and IPTC that any "grown-up" software company would throw around left and right," she told me.
 

| SearchContentManagement - TechTarget | Why ECM systems are core to compliance

Still, despite its challenges, ECM is one of the most important tools for meeting compliance goals, noted Apoorv Durga, a senior analyst at Real Story Group. For one thing, ECM is broad and adaptable. While regulatory compliance for SOX and HIPAA are the primary drivers of compliance initiatives, these regulations aren't the only motivations for introducing ECM systems.

"There could be company-specific compliance efforts, such as [those] for organizations that define their own processes that allow them to function in a uniform way, maintain quality, protect their assets or be more responsive to their customers and employees," he said. These efforts, in turn, could involve controls and audit procedures for internal financial operations, human resource policies, tracking professional requirements such as certifications or visa status, or managing confidentiality requirements such as information related to nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), copyrights, patents or insider information related to trading.

In order for a business to respond to the challenges associated with those various compliance issues, it needs to have sound practices and processes to manage information, Durga explained. "While most organizations have effectively managed structured information -- such as data that resides in enterprise systems like ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems, they have not mastered unstructured information -- such as that found in physical paper documents, images, microfilm and numerous document repositories," he said. The practice of ECM, attempts to address the challenges posed by unstructured information "such as content storage; effective classification and retrieval; archiving and disposition policies; mitigating legal and compliance risk and reducing paper usage," Durga said.
 

| Document Media | What the Consumer Web Can Teach You About Sharing: Are Lightweight, Cloud-Based Alternatives Better?

The relatively simple, cloud-based tools discussed in Real Story Group's report come into the enterprise because of their lack of advanced functionality; this simplicity is a key selling point. They offer only a subset of what the heavier ECM or collaboration tools offer but in a simpler and business-friendly way. But the trade-off for simplicity is often immaturity when it comes to administrative and security services.

There's no perfect solution out there that neatly blends ease-of-use with all the administrative and security services you'd want to see in a single enterprise-wide platform. Vendors will, of course, dispute this vehemently, and there are a lot of exaggerated claims of the kind you often find in young marketplaces. Just understand that what cloud vendors call "enterprise readiness" and what you require for organization-wide deployment may be two very different things.

Real Story Group’s report finds that the document management and cloud file-sharing segments are overlapping, as cloud file-sharing vendors build better document management features (such as library services), and document management vendors build or acquire synchronization and lightweight collaboration services. Finding the solution that is the right fit for your enterprise will take careful evaluation and testing.

| The Imaging Channel | Cost-Per-Seat MPS: The Future … Or Just a Figment of the Imagination?

Where did this cost-per-seat MPS concept come from?

Many IT services are sold on a cost-per-seat basis today, including hardware (e.g., desktops, mobile devices and servers); software (e.g., ECM and CRM); and platforms (e.g., cloud file sharing and collaboration). So, clearly, the cost-per-seat — or “per-user” — pricing model is nothing new at this point. Once desktops started replacing “dumb terminals,” cost per seat was simply the payment plan that made the most sense, said Tony Byrne, president of the Real Story Group. “Software was getting loaded on each machine, (so) you would charge by seat. That was the fairest way to do it.”

So why hasn’t the print industry jumped on this bandwagon yet?

Then there’s the matter of tracking actual usage after establishing pricing — which is already “a nightmare” in the IT world, according to Byrne. In a per-seat IT environment, “customers frequently end up overpaying, … (and) you subject yourself to potentially onerous audits,” he said. MPS dealers wouldn’t want to discourage printing or encourage behind-the-scenes seat/login sharing because they priced seats too high, but they wouldn’t want to give the seats away, either.

For per-seat pricing to be fair, Byrne said, “it has to be (for) something that’s mass usage rather than niche usage. If it’s something where more people using it means getting more value out of it, then seats make sense.”

So is a cost-per-seat pricing model truly viable for MPS? And if so, what would it take for dealers to sell this way?

Byrne believes that, when it comes to print, “seat licenses may not be a good measure of usage volume or intensity, let alone business value. You’re trying to align price to value. You have to ask yourself as a customer, ‘Am I getting more value out of this by expanding the number of people using it?’ and I’m not sure in a managed print environment that I am.”